DS/USA Hosts Disabled Soldiers at Ski Spectacular

Marine Corp. Eddie Wright, Navy HM3 Jose Ramos, and New York Fire Department Volunteer Flip Martin enjoy the Ski Spectacular. Photo courtesy of DS/USA. Disabled Sports USA (DS/USA) hosted 30 US soldiers who were severely injured overseas and their families during the Hartford Ski Spectacular December 5-12 in Breckenridge, Colorado. For many, this was their first time participating in sports since their injury. For 38 years, DS/USA has been helping disabled veterans rebuild their lives. Some of the special guests attending this years event were Army Captain Lonnie Moore, based in Wichita, Kansas, who lost his leg above the knee when a rocket-propelled grenade pierced the turret of his Bradley in Ramadi, Iraq; Virginia-based Army Captain Leslie Smith, who lost her left leg below the knee after developing a near-fatal blood clot while serving in Bosnia; and Army Staff Sergeant Dan Metzdorf, based at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, who lost his right leg above the knee from a roadside bomb near Baghdad while he was on a routine patrol. Metzdorf recently was passed fit for active duty and reenlisted. Other disabled soldiers from all over the US, from specialists to captains in all military branches, were among those attending the week-long event. 600 Enjoy Variety of Activities The special guests were joined by about 600 other disabled skiers and snowboarders who participated in a variety of activities, including learn-to-ski and learn-to-snowboard clinics and adaptive equipment demonstrations provided by adaptive sports organizations from around the world. Participants learned how and where to get started in disabled skiing and snowboarding, how to improve, and even how to perhaps move up to the US Disabled Ski Team, which won the Nations Cup last season as the top national team in World Cup alpine racing. In addition, professional instructors could obtain continuing education credits by taking classes through the Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) Adaptive Academy . The Hartford Ski Spectacular, hosted by DS/USA at Breckenridge every December and sponsored by The Hartford Financial Services Group, is the annual start of the disabled ski racing season. Many of the elite skiers used the competition as a tune-up for the start of the disabled skiing World Cup, which began in January in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Champions Lead Fridays Action All the special guests, along with instructors and DS/USA staff, pose for a group photo at the top of the Beaver Run super chair. Photo courtesy of DS/USA. Disabled world champions and World Cup winners led the action Friday, which also saw some upsets. Among the women, mono-skier Laurie Stephens (LW-12/1; Wenham, MA), the reigning World Cup overall and GS champion, and GS world champ Allison Jones (LW-2; Colorado Springs, CO), won their respective classes, according to adjusted times. Ian Jansing (LW-9/1; Ballwin, MO), skiing out of the Winter Park, Colorado, disabled program, topped the standing skiers male class with a time of 1:41.59 (adjusted time), earning a spot on the US Ski Team. The class is one of three in each gender for disabled skiers. Along with standing skiers, disabled skiing includes classes for sitting and visually impaired skiers. The standing class was open to able-bodied skiers, and in the women's case, that led to a sweep by Colorado's Quantum Ski Club members Chelsea Lynch (1:44.25 [adjusted time]), Lauren Brien (1:45.18 [adjusted time]), and Alex Guras (1:47.93 [adjusted time]). But since the race was viewed by many as a training race, the able-bodied skiers were welcome as they provided additional competition for the disabled racers. Eighteen-year-old Tyler Walker (LW-12/2 Franconia, NH) won the sitting skier male class with a time of 1:47.12 (adjusted time). In the mono-skier class, Walker edged his mentor, world champion Chris Devlin-Young (LW-12/1; Campton, NH), who coached him with the New England Disabled Ski Team, while Ian Lansing, was the standup winner. Andy Parr (B-3; Rockland, ME), who took off last season, returned to racing and was the lone blind skier, finishing the course in 1:46.19 (adjusted time) with the help of guide A.K. Walker. The hardest part of the competition for most skiers on Friday was skiing on soft snow that isn't typical for ski races. The conditions resulted from more than two feet of snow that fell on the resort in the previous 48 hours. The snow, along with high winds, led to the cancellation of a slalom scheduled for Thursday. At the finish of Friday's giant slalom, dozens of local children stood and rang cowbells as each of the competitors came across the line. The young skiers and snowboarders, all third, fourth and fifth graders at Breckenridge Elementary School, earlier in the week donated $546 to the US Disabled Alpine Ski Team in a presentation at the school. Timing Systems Revamped Capt. Lonnie Moore receives training from instructor Joel Berman. Photo courtesy of DS/USA. All of the disabled skiers' times include adjustments that are designed to even out the field among the different disabilities. Disabled skiers run on a factored time, which is somewhat like a golf handicap, explained Sandy Metzger, director of both the alpine and Nordic squads of the US Disabled Ski Team. According to Head Coach Kevin Jardine, a new set of equalizing factors are being used this season as part of a total revamping of the sport's timing systems. Along with the new factors, a new computer program has been introduced for timing disabled skiers and is being standardized throughout the world. Even the classes were redefined under the new system, streamlining the way races are run. The Hartford Ski Spectacular concluded Saturday with a corporate challenge, where teams of four, one of whom must be disabled, compete in a fundraiser on Breckenridge's NASTAR course. The next Hartford Ski Spectacular will be held December 4-11, 2005, in Breckenridge.

DS/USA Hosts Disabled Soldiers at Ski Spectacular

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DS/USA Hosts Disabled Soldiers at Ski Spectacular

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